E 97 
.6 
.C2H6 





AN ACCOUNT OF 
ILLUSTRATED TALKS 

TO 

NOTED INDIAN CHIEFS 

ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS ON THEIR VISITS 
TO THE 

CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL 



Paper read before the Hamilton Library Association, 
Carlisle, Pa. — The Historical Society of Cum- 
berland County, Pennsylvania 
November 17, 1916 
BY 

PROFESSOR CHARLES R HIMES 




i 



SON OF THE STAR- 

AN ARICKAREE CHIEF 

THE RIGHT HAND GRASPS A POLE FROM WHICH DANGLES THE SCALP- 
LOCK OF A SIOUX; THE LEFT HOLDS AN EAGLE-WING FAN RESTING ON 
HIS LAP. 

TAKEN DURING A VISIT TO THE CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL. 



/. ./V. Choate, Photographer. 



THE WHITE MAN'S WAY 



Illustrated Talks on Scientific Sub- 
jects to "Indian Chiefs" on their 
Tisits to the Carlisle Indian School, 
by Frofessor Charles F. Himes, Ph. 
D., Eead before the Historical Sec- 
tion of the Hamilton Library Asso- 
ciation, Carlisle, Pa. 



The so-called Indian School at Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania, will always be re- 
garded as one of the most interesting 
of the educational institutions of our 
country, and of the period to which it 
belonged, in its purposes, its methods, 
and its accomplishments. I have 
purposely not called it by its full 
title, "The Carlisle Indian Industrial 
School," because it was, or became so 
much broader in its aims and its re- 
sults than might be suggested by the 
term "Industrial." 

After it shall have completed its 
work, and ceased to exist, as time 
passes, its history will have an even 
greater interest than now, as a chapt- 
er, and a very influential one, in the 
solution of a great problem that had 
almost seemed to defy solution, and 
many incidents apparently trifling to 
us now, may acquire at least historic 
interest in elucidating some features 
of its work. 

By way of explanation then of the 
selection of the particular subject for 
the paper of the evening, I would 
simply say that it has been prepared 
at the suggestion of some, not simply 
interested in the Indian problem, but 
in the preservation as a matter of 
history, of any incident in any way 
connected with the development of 
the Indian, in his course toward 
American citizenship, and ultimate 
complete absorption into the body of 
the American people; when there will 
be no more Indians, but simply 
citizens of Indian descent; a con- 



2 



sumation to which the Indian School 
will be recognized as a most potent 
factor, and which may be realized 
much sooner than may now be 
imagined. 

Before entering upon the subject 
proper a brief resume of the incep- 
tion of the Indian School may assist 
in making clear the connection of 
the subject. 

The great problem that forced itself 
on to the Christian nations of Europe 
by the discovery of America by 
Columbus, was their relation to the 
non-Christian, heathen, savage, if you 
please, aborigines of the New World, 
and how to deal with them. That 
great problem runs through the whole 
course of the history of our country 
to our day. Each nation in its eager- 
ness to get a share of the great 
domain based a claim to some par- 
ticular portion of the Continent on 
the so-called "Right of Discovery;" 
and by common consent this right 
was regarded as paramount to any 
right of the then occupiers of the soil. 
This right, which is characterized by 
Justice Story as "doubtful in its 
origin and unsatisfactory in its prin- 
ciples," became the established foun- 
dation of the title of European nations 
to territory in America, without the 
slightest regard to the rights of the 
native tribes. These the Christian 
nations treated as mere barbarians 
and heathens, "deemed them as mere 
temporary occupants of the soil," 
whom they might convert to Christi- 
anity, or if they refused conversion, 
"they might drive from the soil as un- 
worthy to inhabit it." The Indians, 
on the other hand, "deemed themselves 
as rightfully possessed, as sovereigns, 
of all the territories," and disputed 
what they regarded as encroachments 
on what they had been in undisputed 
possession of. Whilst the rule of 
might controlled, and most of the 
soil was acquired by the irrestible 



3 



might of arms, much, it is true, was 
acquired by right of purchase, often 
it is true under duress. As was 
natural war became a chronic con- 
dition of the country, and some of 
the greatest and most lauded heroes 
of our country were those who fought 
Indians successfully, at times with a 
barbarity approaching their own. 

The first question, and perhaps the 
most important one, was, how far the 
Indians were capable of education 
and Christianization, especially the 
latter, which however seemed possi- 
ble of accomplishment by the methods 
of that day. But the broader ques- 
tion, whether they were equally 
capable of the highest intellectual 
development in all directions with 
their Christian conquerors, seems 
hardly to have entered into serious 
consideration; a question taken up 
by the Carlisle Indian School, and to 
which it has given so complete an an- 
swer, that it now seems almost that 
it could never have been a serious 
one. 

But many will remember, when the 
Indian question was an open one, and 
Indian wars were chronic, the trite 
saying, endorsed by many army 
officers, that, "the only good Indian 
was a dead Indian." Even at the 
time when Captain, now General 
Pratt, suggested and urged the turn- 
ing over of the Barracks here, then 
unoccupied for seven years, for the 
use of an Indian School and the detail 
of an officer of the army to have 
charge, the above remark was heard 
on many sides, and failure predicted 
by many experienced in Indian affairs ; 
even the great General of the Army, 
afterward a warm supporter of Capt. 
Pratt and his work, was not favorable 
to detailing an army officer for Indian 
educational work, and called it "old 
woman's work." 

It was nothing but Captain Pratt's 
faith in the Indian, as well as his 



4 



humane interest in him, born of his 
contact with him, not only in fight- 
ing him on the frontier, but in his 
use of him in most dangerous and 
responsible! duties there as scouts, 
that not only prompted the experi- 
ment, but sustained him amid the dis- 
couragements not only incidental to 
the experiment itself, but thrown into 
his way at times by those whose 
hearty co-operation he had a right 
to expect. 

His charge of seventy-four selected 
bad men from the Kiowa, Comanche, 
Cheyenne and Arrapahoes; taken by 
him from Fort Sill to Florida, in the 
spring of 1875, thousands of miles 
from their homes, in irons, to be con- 
fined in old Fort Marion for three 
years, proved his opportunity to dem- 
onstrate the correctness of his views 
in regard to the Indian. These men 
had been shown, by the testimony of 
Indians and whites, to have taken 
part for several years in raids, murder^ 
of imigrants and settlers, and acts of 
violence of all kinds. The proposal 
to try them by Military Commission 
was pronounced illegal by the At- 
torney General of the United States; 
so they were sent to Florida in charge 
of Captain Pratt. They were trans- 
ferred, securely chained, in army 
wagons, 140 miles from Fort Sill to 
the railroad, guarded by two com- 
panies of infantry and two of cavalry. 
On the cars from Fort Leavenworth 
one chief tried to commit suicide, but 
rallied; but on reaching Fort Augus- 
tine he refused food, and starved to 
death. Another jumped from the car 
and was shot. Several died. The 
rest were confined in the fort under 
heavy military guard. 

The success of Captain Pratt in 
winning over these apparently, abso- 
lutely incorrigible savages to com- 
plete obedience long before the ex- 
piration of the three years, gave him 
some claim to consideration. In a 



5 



comparatively short time tliey were 
so controllable and trustworthy, that 
he obtained permission for them to 
act as their own guards, and of the 
fort as well; They acquired the 
English language, and at the termina- 
tion of their period of captivity many 
desired to remain. 

The Indian School at Carlisle grew 
in great measure out of this incident. 
It was the child of the heart and brain 
of this really great man, and settled 
in its broad way the capacity of the 
average Indian for the highest in- 
tellectual culture, as it could have 
been settled in no other way; for it 
was not an experiment on a small 
scale, or for a few years; nor with 
a few selected pupils, from selected 
tribes; nor was it confined to pupils 
regarded as of suitable age; but its 
pupils, from the beginning, were of 
a wide range of ages, from a number 
of tribes, ultimately seventy-nine, in- 
discriminately selected. Thus, in 
continuous operation for twenty-five 
years, the school left no phase of the 
Indian question untouched. 

This little prefatory statement, with 
its appreciation of General Pratt, may 
seem almost superfluous before a Car- 
lisle audience, most of whom knew 
him personally, as he went in and 
out amongst them as a citizen for 
twenty-five years; but to others and 
to the coming generation it may serve 
as a fitting record. 

To the ordinary educator the purely 
pedagogical questions, without other 
complications, would have rendered 
the task assumed by Captain Pratt 
an almost hopeless one The children, 
consisting of boys and girls, arrived 
in their camp condition — long hair, 
blankets, leggins, moccasions, etc., — 
and as they played or lolled listlessly 
on the sward about the old Barracks, 
they did not present a very encourag- 
ing appearance; and when to appear- 
ances was added the fact that eleven 



8 



different tribes were represented, with 
as many distinct dialects, practically 
different languages, and absolute 
ignorance of English on the part of 
all, the point of attack upon the 
problem now to educate them, did not 
readily present itself. 

But the broad purpose that runs 
through all the methods and plans in 
conduct of the school falls in with 
the expression of President Grant, in 
his first inaugural, adopted by Captain 
Pratt, in favor of any "course which 
tends to their civilization and ultimate 
citizenship." To accomplish this set 
purpose, every effort was made, not 
simply to educate in the ordinary 
sense, but, as Captain Pratt express- 
ed it, to "environ them in our civiliza- 
tion," controlled always by his belief 
that "The Indians are just as capable 
of development and usefulness in all 
respects as we are." To this end the 
"Outing System" was earnestly ad- 
vocated by him as essential to supple- 
ment the class-room and Industrial 
Shop. 

General Pratt was alert; as might 
be expected, to any thing that might 
in any way assist in carrying out any 
part of his plan. Pupils were a first 
and a prime necessity. He had been 
obliged, at the start, to overcome a 
decided and rather natural distrust 
on the part of the leading chiefs, and 
a hesitancy on their part to send their 
children thousands of miles from 
their homes, uncertain as to what 
might be done with them. It was 
only by the most consummate tact 
joined to his intimate knowledge of 
the Indian, on his appearance before 
a big council of leading chiefs, after 
it had absolutely, and apparently de- 
cisively refused to give their children, 
that, after he had presented the case 
and retired from the council, on 
further discussion, it reversed its 
action, and the pupils were given him. 

Many of these chiefs, in the early 



7 



days of the school, visited it, to see 
for themselves. It was very import- 
ant that they should then he favorably 
impressed, so that they would not, at 
least, discourage the further sending 
of pupils, necessary to the growth 
and continuance of the school. It 
was desirable, not simply to remove 
distrust, but to impress upon these 
leading men of their tribes, in every 
way the superiority of the "White 
Man's "Way." 

Realizing the prominent part that 
scientific achievement played in this 
superiority over the Indian's Way, 
the speaker was asked by Captain 
Pratt whether he would do something 
with the resources of the scientific 
department of the College, to interest 
these chiefs; a request that was 
cheerfully complied with; and, on a 
number of occasions, groups of them 
were invited to the Scientific Lecture 
room of the College, and talks given, 
suitably illustrated, and with the aid 
of an interpreter. 

Some of the visitors bore the fol- 
lowing names: — Red Cloud, Iron 
V/ing, Spotted Tail, American Horse, 
Young Man afraid of his Horses, 
White Thunder, Two Strike, Milk, 
High Wolf, Black Bear, Black Crow, 
Swift Bear, Brave Bull, Standing- 
Cloud, Standing Bear, Poor Wolf, Son 
of the Star, Ouray, and others. They 
were, as a rule, in full Indian costume 
of blankets, leggins, feathers, etc. 

It seemed worth careful considera- 
tion how to make the most out of the 
time at our disposal. These Indians 
were above the average of their race; 
they were leaders in their tribes. 
They had come to see for themselves, 
how their children were treated; how 
and what thy were taught. The mo- 
tive with them was more serious than 
mere idle curiosity. They were 
mature and thoughtful. They were 
in their way practical, shrewd ob- 
servers, alert to everything, willing 



8 



to be amused and entertained, but 
more desirous to learn than to be en- 
tertained. They could not but have 
noticed, on their way from far-off en- 
vironment, many things that struck 
them with wonder — our rail roads, 
our telegraphs, and all the appliances 
of our higher civilization. To have 
treated them to a usual popular 
lecture, with sensational experiments 
would have been to have half-wasted 
a big opportunity. 

The subject of one of the talks — 
"The White Man's Way of Finding 
Out Things," rather/\of simply doing 
things, seemed to interest them from 
the start, and the close attention paid 
even to the most trifling experiments, 
and the evident satisfaction shown at 
the close, confirmed the view just ex- 
pressed in regard to the character of 
the audience. 

As they were not only wanting in 
pedagogical training, but their 
language was a perfect blank in 
scientific terms and phraseology, 
the simplest possible words were em- 
ployed, largely out of consideration, 
too, for the interpreter, who would 
have had a struggle to put scientific 
terms into Indian vernaculor, or to 
have rendered them at all intellegible. 

As the purpose of the talk, then was 
to impress them, how much the White 
Man's superiority was due to his in- 
tellectual methods and his mode of at- 
tack on the physical problems con- 
tinually forcing themselves upon him, 
it occurred that this could be most 
efficiently done by following the his- 
toric line of development of some 
branch of science, from the earliest, 
simplest observed facts to present 
great practical results. With this in 
view, the subject selected was what 
we could call "Magnetism", or might 
call "From the Lodestone to the Tel- 
egraph"; but for which with them I 
had no name, and did not need any. 

By way of ^Introductory" I told 



9 



them that, in thinking over how I 
could use the time we were together 
best for them, I concluded that I 
would not just amuse them; that I re- 
alized that they were not children, 
and so I wanted them to follow close- 
ly with their attention, whilst I tried 
to explain to them the secret of the 
White Man's superiority, and might 
tell them something to think about 
after they had left for their homes. 

The whole secret, I said, is in the 
White Man's way of finding out things 
and using them. It is not only the 
way that he has .used, but that he is 
using today, and the way he will use 
for years to come, and the way on 
which all progress depends; and it 
is the way that is just as open to In- 
dians, especially to the Indian boys 
and girls, who are being taught every- 
thing that the white man knows, at 
this school. 

I am going to talk about what is 
called "Magnetism"; but that is only 
a word, that does not as yet mean 
anything to you, so do not trouble 
yourselves about it. I am going to 
talk to you about things, and we may 
come to the words when we need 
them. 

Here are a lot of stones. Very com- 
mon looking stones. And they are 
very common stones. You may have 
seen every kind of them. 

I roll them all in these iron filings. 
You see they stick only to this one. 
I do not know why, for there is noth- 
ing sticky on the stone. I can easily 
pull them off. I select this stone out 
of the lot because it is not only a 
very wonderful one in itself, but one 
that in the White Man's hands, and in 
his way, we will find was the starting 
point of many wonderful things. But 
what I have shown you is not much 
in itself. A white man happened to 
find it out hundreds of years ago. it 
was not much then, and he did not 
find out much more about it. But 



10 



lie wrote down all he knew about it 
in a book. So when he died all that 
he had found out lived after Mm. 
Other men read his book and found 
out more about it, and wrote down 
all they found out. So for many hun- 
dreds of years white men were finding 
out more and more about it. 

Now let us follow some of these 
very rapidly. — I put one end of this 
little iron rod into the filings. They 
do not stick to it. I touch the other 
end of the rod with the stone, and 
see, the filings now stick to the end 
of the rod away from the stone. I 
take away the stone, and the filings 
fall off from the other end. So some 
how the stone sends its power along 
the rod to the other end. Now I take 
a rod of another sort of iron — called 
steel — it does not hold the iron filings. 
I touch it with the stone, it lifts them. 
I take the stone away, and, wonderful 
to see, it still lifts them. Now I take 
this long steel needle, — a knitting nee- 
dle — that has been made to lift the 
iron filings by being rubbed with the 
stone; I hang it in this little paper 
stirrup by an untwisted thread. I turn 
it around a little; when I let it go, it 
swings back to its first place. I may 
turn it to either side; it always turns 
back to its first direction. 

I put one on this pivot, so that it 
can turn around, and it acts in the 
same way, and always points in the 
same direction as the suspended nee- 
dle. 

This was one of the most wonderful 
discoveries made by the White Man. 
It is not only wonderful in itself, but 
in the use made of it. 

It has a great deal to do with your 
being here tonight and my talking to 
you. 

When you go over the big broad 
treeless prairies, in cloudy weather, 
without sun or stars to guide this 
needle, that always and everywhere 
swings in the same direction, will tell 



11 



you the way. It always points nearly 
to the North Star, whether you can 
see the star or not. Very little nee- 
dle like this that you can carry in 
your pocket answer this purpose. The 
surveyor uses it in running the lines 
of your lands. 

But this was not the first and most 
far-reaching use made of it by the 
White Man. Sailing on the "big, "broad 
trackless waters, bigger than the 
prairies, often without stars or any- 
thing else to tell the way, it was much 
easier to lose the way, so that it was 
hundreds and hundreds of years be- 
fore the White Man would trust him- 
self in his ships far enough from the 
shores of the continent on which he 
lived to reach the one on which you 
lived. But it was not long after the 
discovery of this needle, when Colum- 
bus was bold enough to sail straight 
out toward the West, not knowing 
what he might find, until he reached 
the home of the Red Man; and with 
the needle he easily found his way 
back to tell of his great discovery of 
a New World. Since then ships have 
been plowing their way back and 
forth, rain or shine, with certainty. 
This itself would make this stone 
worth studying, and I have taken it 
to talk about because the steps were 
so simple to big results. 

But now we will take a little time 
to show some other discoveries about 
it, just as simple, out of which the 
White Man has made a great deal. 

The attraction and repulsion of the 
ends of the needles was shown, and, 
what was more wonderful, that this 
two-endedness belonged to the pieces 
of a broken needle, however often it 
was broken. It was impressed upon 
them that we can not explain this; 
but it is only just so. 

But now we will connect with these 
discoveries some other things that the 
Whie Man found out in almost as sim- 
ple a waj r . Here are two pieces of 



12 



metal, with long wires soldered to 
their ends, nothing more. I dip them 
into this jar of liquid, not water, and 
touch the ends of the wires together, 
and hold it above the needle; see, the 
ueedle swing around; I take the ends 
apart and it swings back. It does not 
make any difference how long tue 
wire is, or how far the needle is 
away; it might be a mile, or miles 
away. The white man took to stud- 
ying this hard. One wrapped the 
wire around a bar of iron, which did 
not lift iron, as I do, but when the 
ends of the wires are made to touch 
each other, see, the bar holds tacks 
and nails; and when the ends of the 
wires are separated, the bar loses its 
power; the tacks and nails fall off. 
The bar, too, is two ended when the 
ends of the wires touch, just as the 
needles were two-ended. 

Now we have gotten far away from 
the lodestone that started the whole 
subject, but we seem to have found 
some near relation to it. "We have 
come to a point at which we can make 
magnets, as we call them now, as we 
please, and, what is just as important, 
unmake them too; and we can also 
make them much stronger than with 
the stone. 

A large horse-shoe electro-magnet 
was shown. A Chief was asked to 
put the keeper on very carefully, and 
to his surprise it was drawn from his 
fingers, and with almost as much sur- 
prise he saw it fall off when the cur- 
rent was broken. Y/hen it was ex- 
plained that any piece of steel could 
be permanently magnetized, and a 
knife was suggested, a large one was 
passed up. It was shown to have no 
attractive power. It was then mag- 
netized, and lifted a variety of pieces 
of iron; and it was impressed upon 
them that it would retain this power 
after the owner got it back. On re- 
turn to him it was carefully and ex- 
haustively examined by all of them. 



13 



It was looked over from every side; 
it was felt and rubbed; then tasted 
and finally smelled. All the natural 
tests at their command having been 
exhausted without result, it was qui- 
etly pocketed. But there were more 
and more knives sent up for treat- 
ment, apparently until every one had 
a magnetized knife to carry home 
with him. Incidentally when the 
wires sparked a little, on making con- 
tact with the battery, although it was 
placed far back on the table, some 
one was quick to observe it; and one 
would nudge the other to call atten- 
tion to it, interested to be certain that 
no one would lose anything. 

The great importance of the power 
to make and unmake magnets at will 
at almost any distance was dwelt up- 
on, and fully illustrated by apparatus 
placed in different points of the room; 
and the construction and use of 'keys' 
for convenience in making and break- 
ing contact was illustrated and ex- 
plained; and that the culmination was 
reached in. the application of this by 
the White Man to send messages for 
miles over wires. A large model of a 
telegraph was placed in different 
parts of the room, and its construc- 
tion explained, and that the wires 
might reach to Philadelphia or even 
further. The attention was called to 
the clicking similar to that, that they 
had doubtless noticed at the rail road 
station, where it was bringing a mes- 
sage in the language the White Man 
had given it, and writing it on strips 
of paper as he had directed. 

Now all this started with that little 
apparently insignificant stone, hun- 
dreds of years ago; but that stone 
had hidden in it wonderful powers, 
and the key to unlock many others 
almost as wonderful. All these ap- 
plications, and many others, that I 
have not time to tell about, followed 
step by step from what some one hap- 
pened to notice in that stone hundreds 



14 



of yars ago. So you see that the 
White Man did not reach the telegraph 
by a leap and a bound; but it grew 
in his brains; it did not grow in one 
day, or through one man. It was just 
as if those early men were laying 
foundations, and those who came af- 
ter were building on them. In the 
last few years they have run their 
wires undert he big broad ocean, and 
are now talking back and forth, to 
and from the continent from which 
Columbus sailed. 

But there is every reason to believe 
that there are still bigger things to 
be found further on, and the White 
Man is still going on, and he wants 
the Indian to go with him, and help 
him if he wishes. 

Now you may be tempted to think 
that there were many things I did 
not explain as fully as you might have 
liked. If so that was partly because 
I had not time, but much more be- 
cause I did not know. The White Ma:i 
finds out things and uses them: 
whether he can explain them or not, 
and most of the times he can not ex- 
plain them. If you had gotten a ri- 
fle, you would be apt to use it, wheth- 
er you could explain all about it or 
not or whether you knew how it was 
made and all about it, or not, if you 
just knew enough about it to use 
it. I have kept nothing secret. The 
White Man has no secrets. Whatever 
he knows your boys and girls will be 
taught, as well as his boys and girls ; 
he makes no difference; and may be 
some of your boys and girls will be 
finding out something even more won- 
derful than I have shown you, for the 
White Man has come to think that 
what he does not know is far more 
than what he has found out. 

Now I hope you realize that I have 
not been treating you as children, but 
like grown up men, who can see a 
great deal, and think a great deal 
more. The time has been very short, 



15 



and I have had to speak through an- 
other, to whom we are all very much 
obliged, for I know it has been very 
hard for him; but it never goes as 
well as when we can speak to each 
ether straight. 

But you will at least know more of 
what and how your children are 
tought, and of the White Man's way, 
than if I had simply amused you; 
and I know by the way you have lis- 
tened that you have enjoyed it more; 
and thank you for your attention. 

But they did not leave their appre- 
ciation to be inferred only by their at- 
tention, accompanied by manifest ex- 
pressions of pleasure, as points were 
fully brought out by frequent repeti- 
tion; but they did their best to put it 
into more formal expression by com- 
ing up, some of them almost wad- 
dling, as it were, in their blankets 
dangerously near to the appratus, be- 
hind the lecture table, to offer their 
hands and say their "howdy", that 
single word into which the Indian can 
put so much of "thank you", and good 
will generally, as well as convention- 
al inquiry after your well being. They 
even felt that the same attention was 
due to my wife, present as a highly 
interested spectator — of the audience. 

The difference between these talks 
and the ordinary popular or educa- 
tional lecture will appear from a 
brief account of one given in the same 
place, to a class of more advanced 
pupils of the school. It was sent me 
recently by Gen. Pratt, as reported 
at the time by one of the teachers 
present. 

"About forty of the older boys and 
girls were made To wonder at the 
power of the white men's "medi- 
cine", by a lecture on "Lightning" 
by their good friend Professor 
Charles P. Himes of Dickinson 
College. The stroke of lightning 
that knocked the miniature house 
to pieces was so real that all were 



16 



startled, and the girls gave the 
usual little civilized screech. The 
most amusing thing was when the 
spark of electricity passed from 
Roman Nose's nose to High Fore- 
head's knuckle; while they two 
were badly shocked, the remainder 
of the party were convulsed with 
laughter. Prof. Himes seems to 
have enough of lightning to go 
around, for when Mr. "Talks with 
Bear" and Mr. "Kills without 
Shooting," and Mr. "White Y/hirl- 
wind," and Mr. "Short Leg," and 
Mr. "Runs after the Moon," and 
Mr. "Wants to be a Chief," and Mr. 
"Makes Trouble in Front," and 
Miss "Wooden Ear Rings," and 
Miss "White Cow," and Miss "Red 
Road," and Miss "Stands Looking" 
and Miss "Brave Killer" and a doz- 
en others took hold of hands to 
test the strength of Prof. Himes' 
electric medicine, most of them 
found it stronger than they could 
stand, but a few of the boys held 
on to the last, although they did 
get badly jerked." 
An account of another entitled 
'Why Does it Burn" runs as follows: 
Professes Himes of Dickinson 
College gave the Indian boys a 
number of experiments at the Col- 
lege laboratory on Tuesday the 
13th inst. (Jan. 1880.) The clear 
and tense explanation of each ex- 
periment by the Professor, added 
to the interest, and when he touch- 
ed off a quantity of powder with a 
drop of water, the surprise of the 
boys was unbounded. The boys 
were highly delighted with their 
treat, and the school authorities 
feel greatly indebted to Prof. 
Himes for his kindly interest in 
the pupils, and generous gifts of 
time and ability to aid in the work 
of enlightening their darkened 
minds." 

At an other time a talk to a differ- 



17 



ent group of Chiefs, along similar 
lines, was upon "Different Kinds of 
Air." The use of the term 'air' has 
not only the advantage of being a lit- 
tle, vernacular word, hut it was strict- 
ly, we might almost say classically 
scientific in this connection, for 
Priestley entitle^ the volumes in which 
he describes his discovery of Oxygen, 
"Experiments and Observations on 
Different Kinds of Air," and in ac- 
cordance with the theory of that day 
named it Dephlozisticated Air, and 
spoke of fixed air, inflamable air, and 
many kinds of 'air' that we speak of 
as gases. So we distinguished the 
airs that we found in our experiments 
by names suggested by the properties 
they manifest. 

Attention was first called to the 
fact, that there was something all 
around us ; we could not see it, but all 
the same we could feel it, and when 
it got roused sometimes it could treat 
us pretty roughly in the form of wind. 
Hundreds of years ago, they could 
hardly think of it as anything real, 
like water, or wood or the like, but it 
seemed more to them like spirit. Buti 
we know now that it is something, 
just like anything else is something, 
indeed that it can even be weighed. 
So we will speak about it as if it is 
something real. 

I put a candle under this jar. It 
soon flickers and goes out. "Why? 

You might say it has spoiled the 
air. That would be true, but only as 
far as it goes. But I keep on asking 
— How? It may have taken something 
out of the air in the jar; that it may 
have used up something, that it needs 
to burn. Or it may have put some- 
thing in that would not let it burn, or 
possibly both. Let us try to find out. 
But right here I wish to say first, that 
if I had put a mouse in a jar, it would 
have died in a short time too; and I 
want to say once for all, that where 
a candle can not burn no animal — 



18 



man or beast — can live. Here I have 
something that burns harder than a 
candle. A piece of it on a cork, phos- 
phorus floating under the bell jar, in 
the pan of water, burns brilliantly; 
but it goes out too. But notice that 
the water is creeping up in the jar. 
It stops wsen it is about one fourth 
of the heighth of the air still remain- 
ing in the jar. That means that about 
one part out of five of the air has been 
taken out. I put part of what was 
left, into another jar, and test it with 
a candle. The candle will not burn. 
I keep the other part of it for another 
experiment with it after while, that 
will tell us more about it. But first 
what is this fifth that was taken out 
like? 

A little over forty years ago, all 
the chemists, as they were called, all 
over the world, came together at dif- 
ferent places to honor the man who 
100 years before had found it out. The 
Americans came together at his grave, 
which is in this country. It was con- 
sidered then, and is considered now, 
the greatest discovery of the kind ever 
made, and was the starting point for 
many more discoveries. 

At first he could make only small 
quantities, but we have learned to 
make it so easily, that I have made 
as much as I may need to show what 
this wonderful kind of air is like and 
what a big part it plays for us. 

We will use our candle again to 
ask questions. You see how brightly 
it burns in the jar. This little splint- 
er with just a little glimmer of a 
spark on the tip burns into full flame, 
as soon as it touches the top of the 
air in the jar. Now I will try some- 
thing that is much harder to burn, in 
fact that will not burn at all in the 
air. This thin piece of steel — a watch 
spring, when I heat it red hot in the 
lamp cools down too fast to take fire 
when I put it in the jar. I have coiled 
it up so that I can have a bigger piece 



19 



of it, and I have tied a little piece of 
charcoal on the end with fine wire. 
I heat the charcoal; you see it glows 
like a little point until I can dip it in 
the jar; it grows brighter and bright- 
er, and now, see, it has heated the 
steel until it begins to burn, and away 
it goes, throwing out showers of 
sparks, and melted balls that sizzle 
through the water that I left in bot- 
tom of the jar; some of them, in spite 
of it, burn their way into the bottom 
of the jar. You need not ask why I 
left water in the bottom of the jar. 
Some of the balls might even have 
burned their way through the glass. 
This then seems to be a very live air. 
The other might be called a sluggish 
do-nothing, lazy air. But it seems to 
be needed to slow up the other. If the 
air around us was all of the active 
kind every thing would burn up, even 
the stoves in which we make our fires. 
The Great Spirit seems to know how 
to use the lazy air. I wonder if he 
has any use for lazy people. But I 
said there might have been some dif- 
ferent kinds of air put in by the burn- 
ing candle as some active air taken 
out. It may be well to ask a few 
questions about it. We have found 
out all we can about it with the can- 
dle. Let us ask a question with some- 
thing else. We call these things we 
ask questions with, 'tests.' Here is 
something that looks like water, but 
it is not water, but almost as simple, 
(lime water) . I pour a little of it into 
this jar, which we call empty, but 
which is filled with common air. I 
cover it with a piece of glass and 
shake it up. There is no change in 
the liquid. I burn a candle in the jar. 
I shake it up, and see, the liquid be- 
comes clowdy. I breathe in another 
jar and shake it up with the liquid, 
with same result. But this may after 
all be only the sluggish kind of air, 
answering to this new way of asking 
a question. Let us try the portion I 



20 



kept back for this. It gives no re- 
sult. It is different air. So we have 
found three kinds of air at least in 
the air about us. But I can not let 
this air that the burning candle 
makes, and that we breathe out go 
without showing you something more 
about it. I can make it much faster 
than by breathing or burning a can- 
dle, with this apparatus. I have a 
large number of jars of it already 
made, so I will make only one. In 
this large jar are four little lighted 
tapers at different heights, just to 
tell us when the jar is full. See, one 
after the other goes out, at last the 
top one, and the jar is full. Now I take 
this small jar and carefully dip a jar 
full out. I pour in our test, shake it 
up, and there is no mistake; I have 
really dipped some out. Now I pour 
carefully out of the big jar into a lit- 
tle one, and it answers the question 
with the test. Now I put these little 
lighted wax tapers around on the ta- 
ble, and I pour the air out of the jar 
on to them, and they are put out by 
it as if it was water. But now I put 
the end of this board on this box mak- 
ing an inclined plane. You know wa- 
ter would run down. Let us try this 
air. Put some little tapers at the bot- 
tom. Pour out of the big jar carefully 
so that it does not run over the side. 
Out they go. But now I will try to 
weigh it on these grocers' scales. A 
glass jar would do to weigh water in, 
but it seems heavy and clumsy to 
weigh air in; so I will take this paper 
bag, open it out carefully, so as not 
to tear it, and make it leak; now bal- 
ance the scales. Pour very carefully 
from the big jar into the bag, so as 
not to pour it all over; down goes the 
scale, and to be certain let us pour 
it out of the bag into a small jar, and 
ask for it with the usual test, and it 
promptly answers: Here. Many of 
these things may look to you like con- 
juring or magic, but there is nothing 



21 



about them, but the simplest, purest 
science, that any one could master in 
a short time. But of one thing you 
must be satisfied, that though you can 
not see the air around you there are 
many different kinds of air in it, and 
above all that the Great Spirit has 
mixed them just right for us; and as 
you have watched me pouring some- 
thing, that you could not see from one 
jar into another, and rolling it down 
hill, and weighing on scales, you must 
have felt that there are somethings, 
that are really somethings that can 
not be seen, and I think you might 
suggest as a name for this air, from 
what you have seen about it, 'Heavy 
air,' 

It has been a great pleasure to me 
to speak to you on this interesting 
subject, and I thank you for the atten- 
tion and patience with which you 
have listened. 

Of course it is understood that there 
were repetitions and amplifications to 
make clear or emphasize some points 
that make this account little more 
than a skeleton of the talk, the effort 
being only to show by it the purpose 
of the talks and the treatment of the 
subjects; and much that was com- 
mon to both lectures was, of course, 
not duplicated here. 

I would just add that the point of 
view of the auditors was so different 
from ours, that whilst they were stal- 
idly indifferent, where we might have 
expectation to witness some excite- 
ment, at other times they were visi- 
bly affected by experiments that seem- 
ed trifling to us. Thus they submitted 
to having continuous electrical shocks 
almost without wincing, as if they 
were the merest common place expe- 
riences; but the very simple experi- 
ment to illustrate the pressure of the 
atmosphere, with the air pump and 
the hand glass, had a remarkable 
psychological effect. The hand glass 
was placed on the plate of the air 



22 



pump. A chief nearest was requested 
to place his hand upon it, which he 
did promptly. One stroke of the pis- 
ton fastened his hand, with the full 
pressure of the atmosphere. He seem- 
ed more than surprised; there was al- 
most a shade of anxiety on his coun- 
tenance, as he felt himself suddenly 
gripped, as it were by an unseen 
force, from which he did not know 
how to release himself. I at once re- 
leased him. He did not hesitate, how- 
ever, to try it again, hut seemed rath- 
er desirous to do so; and each one of 
the chiefs, who had witnessed the per- 
formance, and perhaps the first effect 
on his countenance, in turn presented 
himself for a similar experience. 



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